


Never Can Say Goodbye

by ken_ichijouji (dommific)



Category: Star Trek Beyond - Fandom, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Star Trek Beyond Spoilers, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-26 00:37:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7553431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dommific/pseuds/ken_ichijouji
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pavel Chekov loves the stars.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never Can Say Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> Titled after the Jackson Five song. I almost finished this without crying, btw. Unbetaed.
> 
> Spoilers for all Kelvinverse films including Star Trek Beyond.
> 
> For Anton Yelchin.

Everyone talks about how Captain Kirk was born in the stars and fought to go back to them, but few people realize Pavel Chekov dreamed of the stars as a boy, barely old enough to walk or talk, always reaching up to the sky when held in his mother’s arms. It just happens to work out that Pavel is a genius and graduates high school at ten, university at fourteen, enlists in Starfleet that same year.

He’s given his own room, probably because of his age, and the other cadets make rude comments under their breaths the first time he’s in a sim. At the helm next to him is a man named Hikaru Sulu, and Sulu gives him a shaky smile.

They not only excel, they beat the Academy record. Pavel’s hands shake the whole time, but they do it. They're a phenom. From then on they’re paired together, and the laughing ceases. In the Command track, Pavel also has interactions with a famous cadet named Kirk. The three of them work together a lot in their track specific courses, and Pavel feels he might have two friends. 

Nero attacks in the Spring semester third year, and Pavel almost drops dead when he finds out his posting is Navigator of the flagship. He knows he’s competent, he works hard, but he’s still so young and inexperienced, and Captain Pike selected him above everyone possible.

Sulu sits next to him having been first runner up, and Pavel is relieved.

It turns out that Pavel’s other skills come in handy, since he can run a transporter when the objects are moving too quick for other people to register. Pavel likes the engineering theories as much as his specialization, and he beams Kirk and Hikaru back just in time.

He tries again with Commander Spock and the Vulcans, but he falls short with Spock’s mother. 

(Days later when Nero has been stopped and the ship limps back to Earth, Pavel comes to Spock with tears in his eyes and multilingual apologies babbling from his lips. Spock in his way assures him there are no hard feelings, and that he appreciates the ones Pavel could save. It still keeps him up at night on occasion even years later.)

Pavel gets a bit restless with navigation and tactics, and Mister Scott is very knowledgeable and smart. So he asks if he can be taken under his wing, and Kirk supports it “just in case.” So he spends time after his shifts in Engineering with Mister Scott teaching him the ropes. He gets asked to call him Scotty or even Montgomery more than once, but he never does. Just like it’s never Jim or Leonard or Spock-without-a-title. 

Pavel knows they respect him, he knows they consider him a friend, but he knows his place just the same. 

Hikaru is always Hikaru, though, and somehow Lieutenant Uhura becomes Nyota.

So Pavel has learned the ins and outs and then…Admiral Pike dies, there are bombings, and Mister Scott quits. Kirk asks him to put on a red shirt, and Pavel does knowing he’s not actually ready. It’s fine until it’s not, and the Enterprise is sabotaged. Pavel does what he can, but the Vengeance is too much, and as Chief Engineer, he decides to go down with the ship. 

Then he saves Mister Scott and Captain Kirk. 

And then the Captain sacrifices himself.

Pavel is too busy to mourn or deal with it, and besides, Doctor McCoy fixes it. The ship is brought to dock, and they spend a year grounded while it’s refitted, repaired, rehabilitated. He’s given a Starfleet apartment in the same building as Hikaru and Ben, and down the hall from Nyota and Mister Spock. He doesn’t realize that Doctor McCoy and the Captain are sharing one until he leaves as they return from the grocery store. 

Mister Scott is there too, though he’s gone a lot supervising the repairs.

The year flies by, and then they have the ceremony. Pavel wears his dress grays with his comrades, and they head out into the black for their five year mission. This time in the off hours, they become Jim and Leonard and Spock, sometimes Scotty, and Hikaru becomes a dad to a beautiful girl named Demora. Pavel becomes Uncle Pasha, and he spoils Demora with gifts.

They go further into space, and it’s all uncharted. Pavel is busier than ever, making new maps, naming new places, meeting new people. It goes wrong more often than it goes well, but they have a good time. They all get close, Jim having everyone for dinner once a week to bond. It’s wonderful and great, and for the first time, Pavel really feels like he’s one of them.

The Swarm hits the ship, and they all end up separated. Pavel is with Jim, and as they slowly regroup, he knows more than ever that he’s found a second family. He hugs Scotty when they meet again, and Jaylah intrigues him, but they all save the day and the Yorktown. 

The Enterprise is now the NCC-1701-A, and they all live on Yorktown for its construction. Leonard teaches him how to properly fry chicken. Jim buys him a bottle of Glenfiddich to replace the one he and Leonard borrowed. Nyota goes dancing with him, and they speak in a Saint Petersburg dialect the whole time, making everyone around them think they’re a couple. Uncle Pasha showers Demora with more gifts and tells her of his adventures in space with her amazing dad. Spock shows him the Ambassador’s belongings, and he gets to see himself in a few decades with his family. He and Scotty play cards and drink, and honestly those are his favorite times.

A month before the ship’s rebuilt, Pavel gets asked to meet with Commodore Paris. He’s offered First Officer on the Reliant with a huge bump in rank to boot. He asks to think about it, and she gives him a day.

Pavel avoids everyone but Scotty. Keenser is with him, and they sit at a cafe in the city plaza. Pavel tells him the predicament. Scotty listens. Then he thinks. “Well laddie,” he begins. “As much as we love you, you can’t sacrifice your career. You’ve earned this, and it’s not like we all won’t ever see each other again. We do work for the same organization.”

Pavel nods.

Scotty smiles with a twist of bitterness. “Aye, but…we’ll miss you.”

Pavel hugs him, and Scotty swallows particularly hard. Keenser salutes, and Pavel heads back to the Commodore. He accepts the posting.

He tells Jim and by proxy Leonard in person, Spock and Nyota the same. He has dinner with Hikaru, Ben, and Demora, and…it goes as well as it can.

Hikaru looks stunned, but then he shakes his head. “I want my own ship one day,” he begins. “There’s rumors of a new gen of ships called Excelsior. It’ll be weird for you to not be at my right, but…you need to do this.”

Pavel nods, his throat closed up, and they hug for a long time.

When the Enterprise is ready, Pavel goes to see everyone off. His favorite instructor from the Academy, Arex, is taking his post. Arex is kind and competent, and Pavel knows he’ll be welcomed with open arms. His close friends take turns hugging him, saying farewell, wishing him luck. He does the same, telling them to be bold and go where no one has before. They’re the last to beam up, and he waves when they do.

Pavel goes back to his apartment, where he sees something on his desk that wasn’t there before.

It’s a picture—one he forgot was taken. It’s the seven of them posed like the older versions in Ambassador Spock’s belongings. Almost all of them (not Spock and Leonard, never) smiling around the Captain’s chair. It was taken the day the five year mission started, and it’s already been framed for him. There’s a card from them with notes and well wishes and inside jokes. He decides to frame it too---they’ll both go in his office on the Reliant. And he makes sure to call them whenever they’re in the same part of space.


End file.
